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Saturday, 23 August 2014

Twenty Nine Plant Species New to Science Discovered from India in 2013

During the year 2013 the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) has discovered twenty nine new species to science. Out of these 29 species/varieties 20 are angiosperms, 8 fungi and 1 lichen. In addition 40 new records for India (species/ varieties) have been described during the year 2013. BSI is the apex research organisation under the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India for carrying out taxonomic and floristic studies on wild plant resources of the country through survey, documentation and conservation.

Species new to science discovered from India during the year 2013 listed below along with its family and reference.

Table 1:List of plant species new to science discovered from India during 2013

During the year maximum number of new records for a state or region were recorded for Arunachal Pradesh (53) followed by Andaman & Nicobar Island (20), Mizoram (16), Sikkim (14) and North East Region (4). 3 new species were recorded each for Bihar and Uttarakhand where as one new record for each was added for Himalayan region, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

Table 2: New records of plant species for a region/state in India

S.No

States/Region

Number of Species Recorded

1

Himalayas

1

2

North East Region

4

3

Andaman & Nicobar Island

20

4

Arunachal Pradesh

53

5

Assam

1

6

Bihar

3

7

Goa

1

8

Gujarat

1

9

Maharashtra

1

10

Mizoram

16

11

Nagaland

1

12

Rajasthan

1

13

Sikkim

14

14

Tamil Nadu

1

15

Uttarakhand

3

16

West Bengal

1

Source: Annual Report 2013-14, MoE&F, Govt of India

Text and Data Collation: www.indianbotanists.com

The above data reflects that Arunachal Pradesh has maximum plant diversity in India. Further new records to science, for India and for any region or states emphasise that many more new species has to be discovered before it becomes extinct by means of road, dams and other infrastructure construction. Infrastructure development might have caused destruction of habitat of many plants before it is known to science.